To close the Morris Street Post Office is to discriminate against the non-driving public: the elderly, the blind; the pedestrians who cannot afford to own and operate a car.

Here are some facts to consider:

The Town of Morristown is the county seat of Morris. The town is 2.89 square miles. The residential population is estimated to be 18,000 persons. The daytime population is estimated to be 80,000.

The Morris Street Station is the only post office in the Town of Morristown. The Ridgedale Avenue post office is in the township of Morris.

The Morris Street Station services pedestrians. The Ridgedale Avenue post office is reached only by vehicle. Sidewalks on Ridgedale Avenue are on the opposite side of the four-lane street. Anyone trying to walk to the Ridgedale Avenue post office is risking his life by crossing the street.

The Town of Morristown was designated a transit village by the State of New Jersey in 2000 and built the first transit village in the state. This was done to attract pedestrians rather than motorists.

The Town Council of the Town of Morristown signed the Speedwell Avenue Redevelopment agreement in January 2012 which plans to add up to 800 living units in the town. Has the post office added the additional population into its projections?

The Epstein’s Redevelopment project at the Morristown Green is in progress and has already sold or leased hundreds of living units. These residents are one block away from the post office.

Anecdotally, a legally blind women living in the Blair House apartments on South Street walks to the Morris Street post office. What will she and others in her condition do when they need to walk to the post office on Ridgedale Avenue?

What about the many day laborers living or working in Morristown who lack a driver’s license?? My experience while waiting in line at the Morris Street post office is that many of the patrons make use of the post office to transmit cash.

I live within walking distance of the Morris Street post office and make a point of walking there rather than driving. The distances are 0.6 miles to One Morris Street and 1.4 miles to 150 Ridgedale Avenue.

Seeing Eye guide dogs do not drive cars but they do help their owners walk to destinations such as the post office. Please note that the Town of Morristown is a major site for training service dogs.

In the 1960s and 1970s the U.S.P.S. operated a store-front annex on Washington Street. I recommend you consider this approach to service the customer who is unable to travel to the Ridgedale Avenue post office in the adjoining town.

The goal of the governing body of Morristown and of the NJ State Planning Commission is to make Morristown a walkable and sustainable town. The U.S.P.S. is acting counter to state and local goals by closing the Morris Street Station.

Comments

I attended the hearing and it soon became obvious that postal officials had not studied the demographics of the areas where they proposed closing the offices. They kept calling the Township office on Ridgedale the Morristown office. They acted as though the purchase of stamps was the only reason anyone would go to the post office and that everyone pays their bills using their computer. They seemed unaware of the Seeing Eye training program in Morristown.

They spoke of the need to improve and expand the currently inadequate rented space on Ridgedale without knowing how that could be done. Their plans made no sense financially, logistically or politically. The best response they could give was that it was the fault of congressional policies beyond their control.

Our congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen needs to hear from our citizens or a large segment of the Morristown residents will be left without postal services.

And while we’re discussing the post office, there’s something I have been wondering about….Why did they turn the blue post box outside of the post office sideways so now one has to park and get out of their cras to drop off mail?